Twisted

Prologue

50 Years Earlier

Nike, Enugu

The sun was about to set, the insects chirping at the nearby bush. It was supposed to be a cool, calm evening, but the muffled cries of a fifteen-year-old girl destroyed the quietness. Adaobi Okonkwo sat on the ground in a small pathway beside a small bush, tainting the sandy soil with her tears, her once sparkling blue and white school uniform now soiled with dirt.

Adaobi was a young, dark beautiful girl with sharp facial features and eyes once filled with hope and dreams. But now, she felt the world had been so unfair to her. What had started as a memorable experience, a life filled with great promises and joy, had suddenly turned ugly, dreadful, and unforgiving. She touched the slight pooch of her stomach and shivered.

Three months pregnant! the doctor had told her.

She found it difficult to concentrate.

My world is turning upside down!

She closed her eyes as a kaleidoscope of memories filled her mind.

I will not be gentle to anyone who wants to give this missionary school a bad name. This school will no longer tolerate your shameful and immoral acts. You are hereby expelled, Sister Mary, her school principal, had told her.

Her words still echoed at the floor of her mind with its tone of finality. Afterwards, she had gone to meet her high school love, Peter. He had been her last hope.

Ada, please, I don’t want to be seen with you. I don’t want to be associated with a girl like you. I have nothing to do with you. I have told you many times, I am not responsible for your pregnancy. This is a big school, I don’t know you, Peter had told her with shocking words as he sauntered away with Nkechi, her bitterest rival in school, who was in Peter’s arms, giving Adaobi a mocking smile.

Adaobi and Nkechi had been arch-rivals in Grace Memorial Secondary School owned by Reverend Sisters. Both were now in SS3. They were always competing with each other while pretending to be best of friends. At the same age of fifteen, the two girls had both the beauty and the brains. While Nkechi was the President of the Drama Club, Adaobi was the President of the Press Club. In their SS2, both were hostel prefects and always first in inter-school debates and quiz competitions. They dated the cutest guys in school and always sought to out-dress each other.

Adaobi had fallen in love with Peter, the senior prefect, and had gotten pregnant by him after being enticed by his sweet words and promises of living happily-ever-after. It was supposed to be a fairy-tale love story.

But now, the whole thing had turned sour. Nkechi had snatched her boyfriend away from her and had gone as far as exposing her pregnancy to the school authorities. The Principal, a no-nonsense Reverend Sister feared by all the students in the school for her strictness and hot temperament, had quickly expelled her. Her boyfriend had denied knowing her to safeguard his own reputation and position in the school. Peter had wasted no time in flaunting Nkechi as his new heartthrob.

Peter, my love. This is not happening!

Adaobi opened her eyes as tears of shame rolled down her cheeks. Dejection clouded her every moment. Everywhere she turned, she would see shame, embarrassment, and humiliation waiting for her. She couldn’t imagine the pain she would put her parents through if they found out.

She placed her fragile hands on her stomach. I will not bring shame to my family.

Her eyes were puffy and red. Gradually, the sun set, and the colour of her eyes changed to match the resolve she now felt. Something had changed in the young girl. Her eyes were now darker.

She quickly wiped her tears, collected her old school bag, and stood up. She remembered the image of Nkechi in the arms of Peter, giving her a mocking smile.

Nkechi! Nkechi! For all that you have done to me, you will pay! Oh, you will pay dearly!

Her mind remained firm, strengthened by a dangerous determination. She was ready for the inevitable.

Tick tok.

The journey had begun.

Chapter One

Present Day

Port Harcourt

Honey, we are late.

I am coming! Give me five minutes.

Emeka Obi smiled. He knew Anita better than any other person in the world. He could imagine her calmly going through the steps necessary to make herself appear elegant and presentable. That meant waiting for at least another ten minutes, and possibly more, before she was satisfied with her appearance. Women could waste a lot of time getting dressed.

He was not bothered. He would wait. He put on his black jacket and stepped out of the balcony of his two-storey mansion. At the age of thirty, he looked charming and fit; the perfect picture of the most eligible bachelor, his black afro hair neatly combed. Emeka was of average height, dark-complexioned, with flawless facial features. His artfully carved beard gave him an aristocratic appearance.

The early morning Saturday sun shone directly on his face. He walked faster to his car. His gate man, Yusuf, approached him and collected his briefcase to put in the car trunk. Emeka greeted him with a smile, showcasing his perfect set of white teeth.

Aaaah.

The sound came from a young man in his late twenties, well past average height. Bob yawned as he walked out of the house. The November sun lunged at his face with its furious rays, making him to blink several times. Television weather forecasters were already saying that this year’s cold spell would be longer than usual, with lower temperatures. As his master’s driver, Bob was always ready to drive him to his destination. He was already dressed up, but sleep still lingered in his eyes. He approached his master.

Which car are we using today, sir?

Emeka had high taste for cars, with six vehicles in different corners around the huge compound—a black Cadillac jeep, a white 2015 Range Rover Sport, a Mercedes-Benz Gle SUV, a blue Infiniti Jeep, a red Lamborghini Aventador, and a black IVM innoson-G5 SUV. The whole compound was paved with marble, with a canopy of well-carved flowers situated at the centre to supply fresh air and add to the beauty of the villa.

Don’t worry, Bob. Yusuf has already opened the Cadillac.

Bob nodded and collected the car key from his boss. Emeka smiled. He looked powerfully built in his long, blue Ankara shirt and trousers. As the only child of his middle class parents who had both suffered to raise him up, his life journey had been tough. His father was now a retired secondary school principal, his mother a consultant nurse working in a private clinic at Enugu. She, too, had long retired from the government civil service.

There had been difficult times when his parents had had no money to pay for his school fees. Constant strikes by the labour union shrunk the meagre-pay of their government jobs to almost being insufficient. At one point, when Emeka’s school fees in the university skyrocketed, his father had almost given up. Somehow, his mother had managed to pay them so that he could remain in school. Back then, she’d been a senior nurse working at the university teaching hospital at Enugu.

After graduating with a degree in civil engineering from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Emeka had worked with a lot of construction companies before opening his own business. His father had proudly helped him to secure a loan from a micro-finance bank.

Now, almost everywhere he looked, he could see the result of his parents’ efforts in shaping his life. Emeka had started building a network of connections, welcoming new friendships. With his charming eyes and permanent smile, he was very persuasive and likable. To him, he felt his special gift had more to do with talent than effort.

His major breakthrough came when he secured a government contract to reconstruct the East-West Road. From then, it had been one success after another. At the age of twenty-five, he had begun to deal in import and export of building materials. Later that year, he’d opened his own paint manufacturing company.

Since then, he had been acquiring failing companies. He would buy them and refit them with experts, and before long, they would start generating money. The next thing he did was acquire a big advertising agency. He spent millions in advertising, and he generated even more profit.

Three years later, Emeka and Sons Group of Companies finally became a publicly traded company registered on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Now, it had become a big corporation with shareholders and board of directors, and at the head of this giant sat Emeka, the Chief Executive Officer.

His parents had been worried that he had shunned the idea of marriage. They’d accused him of refusing to marry. For the past seven years, Emeka had focused on his business—from one acquisition to another, from one deal to another. As if he were driving an unstoppable train … it had to stop temporary when he set his eyes on Anita, who eventually turned out to be the beautiful queen of his heart.

Today, he was travelling to Enugu with his fiancée to introduce her to his parents.

The sound of the horn interrupted his thoughts. He looked up and met her eyes. Anita looked beautiful in her blue Ankara gown. She was a tall, ebony beauty, an inch taller than him. Her eyes were filled with love as she smiled at him.

Emeka approached her, kissed her right hand, and led her to the car. They entered through the back door, and Bob drove the car out of the compound.

Their beautiful mansion was located at Peter Odili Road—a place reserved for the wealthy, part of the Trans Amadi industrial district and a few kilometres away from the Port Harcourt city centre. Port Harcourt, the city that never sleeps, was the capital of the oil-rich Rivers State. Romantics often referred to it as the ‘Garden City’ because of its flowery avenues and beautiful ornaments.

In less than thirty minutes, they were driving through Rumuola Road, known for its notorious traffic jam. Though still around nine in the morning, the heavy traffic slowed down their journey.

Rivers State government should do something about this hold-up.

Twenty minutes later, they were driving through Aba-Port-Harcourt expressway. They reached Enugu around one in the afternoon.

Located in South-Eastern Nigeria with a population of more than two million, Enugu actually meant ‘Hill top,’ denoting the city’s hilly geography. But yet, Enugu lay at the foot of an escarpment and not a hill. Known as the coal city, it was popular for its cool and serene environment and the coal mineral it had in abundance.

Are we almost there? Anita asked anxiously.

Emeka held her hand.

Yes, get ready. Don’t worry, you will be fine. I’m with you, he assured her.

Anita was panicking. A lot of things had been going on in her mind. Today was like a judgment day. Will they like me? What will they say?

A lot of questions were flowing through her mind, but only two things helped to calm her down and give her confidence: the love of her life sitting beside her, and the diamond ring on her finger.

She placed her hand with the ring on her chest and muttered silent prayers.

***

Trans-Ekulu, Enugu

They will soon be here, she said.

Yes, finally, a woman has captured his heart. I can’t wait to see her, he said.

Rita Obi and her husband, Sir Matthew Obi, held hands together as they stepped out of the door of their gorgeous one-storey duplex. Emeka had bought the land at Trans-Ekulu housing estate and built the duplex for them, tastefully furnishing it to their taste. Beautiful trees and shrubs helped to give the compound exactly what they wanted—a quiet, peaceful atmosphere.

Known to her friends as the ‘Diamond Butterfly’, Rita Obi was a tall, mahogany-skinned woman with an imposing stature and a variable temperament; she could be very gentle and tender one moment, and roaring like a lioness the next. Her husband often joked that not only could she bite … she could bite very hard.

Because of her imposing physique, a lot of people who knew her now believed that nurses were wicked. But Rita knew she was not wicked. In a man’s world, a woman must either keep the men under her feet to gain their respect and admiration, or they would put her under their feet to serve as their tools and properties. She had been eating a lot of food lately, and her curvy, plump frame had made her maids in the house so fearful of her.

Sir Matthew Obi was exactly the opposite of his wife. To maintain balance in a family, there should always be the iron rod and the tender hand. He was the tender hand. A member of the Catholic Knights of St John, he was gentle but firm. Highly conservative and fair-skinned, he was a man of principles and a little above average height, five years older than his wife. At the age of sixty-five, the retired school principal was still ruggedly handsome with flecks of grey hair. He looked up as he heard the sound of a car horn.

They are here, he said as he smiled.

An elderly gateman opened the gate, and the Cadillac jeep cruised into the compound and stopped in front of the house.

Stay in the car, Emeka told Bob as he led his fiancée out of the vehicle.

Anita’s face beamed as her gown sparkled under the afternoon sun. Emeka maintained a smile on his face as he approached his parents. He had always been very close to his mother—he loved her so much. Since his childhood, her hands had left their marks in virtually every stage of his life. He hugged her tightly.

Welcome, my son, Rita said as her face lit up in a smile showing her white teeth.

Emeka shook hands with his father. Sir Matthew Obi turned and greeted the young girl.

Welcome, Nne.

Anita greeted back politely.

Emeka quickly introduced them. Mama, Papa, this is Anita, the love of my life.

Rita scanned the young woman’s face for a long moment, her heavy gaze was intense, making Anita feel uncomfortable.

Quickly, a smile crept back to her face. Finally. So you are the one. Come and give me a hug.

Anita’s discomfort quickly faded, and she became so excited. What a warm welcome. I can’t wait to be a member of this lovely family. She hugged her future mother-in-law in an earnest embrace, and they entered the house. Soon, they were climbing the tiled stairs. On their way up, she looked down stairs and saw two young teenage girls, probably maids. They were busy hurrying up and down, putting things in order.

At the dining room, expensive plates had already been set on the enormous mahogany round table. They were all served African salad with beef by one of the maids. The second course was pounded yam and vegetable soup with fresh fish, this one carefully served by Emeka’s mother.

As Anita observed the way Emeka was enjoying the pounded yam, she made a mental note to add it as one of his favourite foods. The whole family was so adorable. Father and mother sat close to each other as they ate and looked at their only son with eyes filled with love. The son sat facing his parents as he looked at them with eyes filled with devotion. Their faces all beamed with smiles as they cracked